Phonology of Selepet

HANDBOOK OF PHONOLOGICAL DATA
FROM A SAMPLE OF THE WORLD'S LANGUAGES

A Report of the Stanford Phonology Archive

Compiled and edited by

John H. Crothers
James P. Lorentz
Donald A. Sherman
Marilyn M. Vihman

1979 by The Board, of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

PAGE 349 STANFORD PHONOLOGY ARCHIVE

VOLUME 1 — SEGMENT INVENTORIES, GENERAL COMMENTS, FOOTNOTES Selepei

670

670

670

670
670

670
670

670
670
670

670

670
670 °1

670 02
670 03

670 30

670 60
670 61

670 Selepei

01 p-aspi rated

> [p-unreleasedl 60
(phi) 6 *
(free)

( free)

02 b-prenasalized 0 *
tb) 63

(alio, free)
[p] 6t *

(alio, free)

03 t-aspi rated

[ t-unreleased] *°

04 d-prenasalized°*
td) 63

(alio, free)
(alio, free)

05 k-aspi rated
Ck-unreleased] 60

06 g-prenasalized 01

tg]63

(allo»f ree)

670 Selepet
EkJ 64

(allo>free)

07 s 69
(tag(-)»free)

*/yod/

08 m

09 n

10 eng
teng-prevelar] 70
En-palatoalveolarl 71
( free)

11 1

12 r-flap
Cr-trilll 72
(free)

13 h

t gamma] 73

670 Selepei

51 f02
Mota] 7t »

52 epsllon 02
lei"

(alio, free)

53 a° 2
la-backedl 76

54 u 02

I u-f rented] 77

55 o 02
to-fronted] 78

56 ash-trema 02 03

E alpha-unroundedl 79

57 w

t beta) 80

58 yod 30

tz-palatalizedl 81
(alio, free)
Is-palatalized* 82
(free) " r

$a Selepei $b Southern $d Huon $e New Guinea $f 5,500 $g William A. Foley $g Jim Loreniz

( revi ew )

$a McElhanon, K, A. $b 1970 $c Selepei Phonology $f (Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 14) $g
Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University $q informants $r 4 years

$a IHTONATXOH $A "The pause group is the unit manifesting intonation. This information conveys
the attitude of the speaker; it is not considered as a vehicle for grammatical meaning nor as
adding 'shades of meaning. 111 Attitudes indicated by various intonation contours are:
Finality-of-thought; Incompleteness-of-thought ; Repetition; Regret, Sympathy, Desire; Distant
Calling; Hesitancy, Determination; Agressiveness; Suspense; Inquiry; Amazement, Wonder;
Disgust, Anger; Disregard; Seduction; See source p. 6-13 for a detailed description and
discussion of each of these intonation contours,

$a STRESS $A Primary stress occurs on the initial syllable and secondary stress occurs on odd
numbered syllables thereafter. In words of three syllables the final secondary stress is
optional.

$a SYLLABLE $A (C)V(V)(C) $A diphthongs: /epsi Ion, a, u, o, ash-trema/ + /i/; /epsllon, a, o,
ash-trema/ + /u/; /a, o, ash-trema/ + /epsi Ion/; /a, ash-trema/ + /o/ (p. 15)

$A In initial position the prenasalizaiion is weak and sometimes absent. It has never been
observed to constitute as much as 1/2 the phone's total length. This contrasts with the
intervocalic position where the nasal portion of the phone may be as much as 3 times the length
of the stop portion, (p. 20)

$A Vowel qualities are identified by frequency of first and second formants. (p. 21)

$A McElhanon uses the term "unrounded" for /ash-trema/ (p. 38), but his phonetic symbol is
"open-o. "

$A /yod/ "occurs initially preceding back vowels and medially following stops and nasals."
(p. 20)

$A The aspirated stops are unreleased in syllable final position.

$A tphn occurs rarely in free variation with tfl and Ep-aspi rated] word initially before high
vowels.

PAGE 350
VOLUME 1

STANFORD PHONOLOGY ARCHIVE
— ocbntni iNVtNiUKico, GENERAL COnHENTS, FOOTNOTES Selepet

670

62

$A tfl occurs rarely in free variation wiih Ip-aspiratedl or IphiJ before high vowels.

670

63

$A Plain voiced stop phones occur following consonants and sometimes occur in free variation
with the prenasalized stops in initial position.

670

5A Plain voiceless stop phones may occur following voiceless stops and, rarely, in free
variation with the prenasalized stops in initial position.

670

69

$A tsJ is a rare free variant of /yod/ following stops, (p. 20)

670

70

?A /ens/ is Tronted following /n/ and /t/.

670

71

$A tn-palatoalveolar] occurs in free variation with teng-prevelarJ following /n/.

670

72

$A [r-trilll occurs only rarely in variation with Ir-flapl .

670

73

$A /h/ is realized as i gamma ] in intervocalic position

670

7H

$A /i/ Is realized as tiotal before nasals and prenasalized stops.

670

75

$A /epsilon/ is realized as [el before vowels, fricatives, and word finally, and varies freely
with tepsilonJ before liquids.

670

7G

$A /a/ is backed in the sequence tl.-.ml.

670

77

5 A /u/ is fronted before /t/.

670

78

$A /o/ is fronted before dentals.

670

79

$A /ash-trema/ is realized as [alpha-unroundedJ between /!/ and labials.

670

80

$A /w/ is realized as IbetaJ intervocalically.

670

81

$A Iz-palatalized] occurs initially preceding front vowels and varies freely with lyodJ
medially following stops and nasals.

670

82

$A ts-palatalized] occurs as a free variant of lyodJ or Iz-palatalizedJ following stops.